Conventional methods for buying vehicles are often inefficient for vehicle dealers, unpleasant for buyers, and overly time consuming for both parties. On one hand, vehicle dealers often devote considerable time and resources to large numbers of customers who are not prepared to purchase a vehicle and/or who do not qualify for financing or leasing of certain vehicles. On the other hand, buyers are often uncomfortable with “high pressure” tactics employed by many salesmen. Both parties suffer from the sheer amount of time spent in negotiating terms of a sale or lease and preparing, reviewing, and signing the associated paperwork.
In recent years, the vehicle sales industry has attempted to take advantage of increasing willingness by consumers to purchase various products and services over the Internet. Many new vehicle dealerships, for example, dedicate at least a portion of their staff to Internet advertising, and to handling inquiries generated from the dealer's website or the websites of manufacturers and other third parties. While Internet advertising has provided some benefit, many vehicle dealers still end up devoting substantial amounts of time and resources contending with unqualified/unprepared buyers.
Embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other issues.